Tuesday, March 16, 1915
In billets, Rue du Quesne
The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: “No parade except rifle inspection. Men played football in the afternoon.” [1]
The Battalion history has noted that after moving back to these billets on the night of the 13th, no parades, except rifle inspections, were held on the 14th, 15th and 16th, to give the men a thorough rest, which was varied only by a few games of football on the afternoon of the 16th. [2]
THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY: Three Wounded Canadians Received Additional Injuries
(Special Cable from The Gazette’s Resident Staff Correspondent.) London, March 8 – How the Germans fired upon an ambulance in which two wounded Canadians were being conveyed to a base hospital is told by one of the men who had received a bullet wound in the leg during a charge. After lying wounded from mid-day until midnight he was conveyed to a dressing station and after receiving attention there he was placed in an ambulance. This was in the afternoon and when the vehicle was half a mile from the town with no troops or other apparatus near, the ambulance was hit by a shell which inflicted further, though not serious, injuries to both occupants.
A similar incident occurred when a corporal from one of the Canadian battalions was being conveyed to hospital. He had been wounded in the head and when a shell burst upon the ambulance the wounded corporal sustained a shattered thigh.” [3]
[1] War Diary, 14th Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment, March 16, 1915. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/e/e044/e001089701.jpg
[2] R.C. Featherstonhaugh, The Royal Montreal Regiment 14th Battalion C.E.F. 1914-1925, Montreal, The Gazette, Printing Co., Ltd., 1927, pg. 31.
[3] “Fired on Ambulances,” The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, Tuesday, March 9, 1915, pg. 1, col. 2.